?S 3525 

.A2653 D8 

1919 



Driftwood 



By yames L. McLane, "Jr. 




PvS 3S' 



-W 



Class 

Book, ^2.ro,yg.Ug 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



DRIFTWOOD 



DRIFTWOOD 



BY 



JAMES L. McLANE, JR. 




BOSTON 

THE FOUR SEAS COMPANY 

I919 



^^# 






Copyright, ipip, by 

THE FOUR SEAS COMPANY 



The Pour Seas Press 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 



APi)c5\ 1^987 



CONTENTS 

DRIFTWOOD .......... 9 

THY LOVE . . lO 

MY FANCY II 

TO THEE 12 

IF LOVE WILL GIVE ME WINGS I3 

ONE I LOVE 14 

TWILIGHT 15 

LILIES 16 

OUR LADY OF PEACE 17 

IN NO man's land 18 

"father, forgive them" 19 

in memoriam 20 

in memoriam ! e. r. 21 

our heritage 22 

her sacrifice 23 

a japanese color print 2/\. 

my silence 2$ 

hidden truth 26 

life more abundant 2y 

the birth of sorrow 28 

communion 29 

gethsemane 3o 

the hand of god 3i 

the crowd 32 

BIRTH 33 

MORTAL LOVE 34 

OUT OF THE DUST 35 

OUR HEAVEN 36 

YOUR EYES 37 

MY DREAMS 38 

A PAINTED PARASOL 39 

A BROKEN FRIENDSHIP 4O 

OUR SOULS .41 

NEW year's DAY, I918 42 

winter's LAMENT 43 



CONTENTS 

SPRING IN A CITY 44 

PASSING SPRING 45 

APPLE BLOSSOMS 46 

OUR BLINDNESS 47 

BEES 48 

A CUBIST DREAM 49 

RAIN 50 

OLD JAPAN 51 

MEMORIES 52 

AN IVORY CASKET 53 

A SACRIFICE 54 

HER ANSWER 56 

A RETROSPECT 57 

TO THE FOG . . . 58 

LOST LOVE 59 

EVEN SO 60 

THY HAIR 61 

ECSTASY 62 

WE WHO ARE NEAR TO ONE ANOTHER ... 63 

PRELUDE 64 

EVENING 65 

A KISS 66 

BY THE CORNISH SEA 67 

THE sea's cry 68 

SEA-COMFORT 69 

TO MY FAERY GODMOTHER 70 

A CHOPIN WALTZ 7I 

CHILDHOOD y2 

OPEN COUNTRY 73 

TO FLAMES 74 

MOONLIGHT 75 

FROM THE CLIFFS yii 

TO A SHELL . . . jy 

SLUMBER SONG 78 

RAIN-SONG 79 



CONTENTS 

EVEN SONG 80 

THE MOTH 81 

THE HAUNTED CASTLE 82 

DARK HEARTS 84 

DAWN 85 

TO ONE WHO SENT ME VERSES 86 

YOUR VOICE 87 

AT SANDY NECK 88 

TO A POET-FRIEND 89 

OUR DAWN 90 

o beauty! thou art god 91 

invocation 93 

boletus 94 

sympathy 95 

prelude to autumn ....... 96 

A thrush's GHOST 97 

OLD SUMMER 98 

summer's SACRIFICE 99 

MY DAYS 100 

AN AUTUMN GARDEN Id 

TO AUGUSTA I02 

TO MY MOTHER IO3 

MY WISH 104 

MY IDEAL . . 105 

MY FLAME I06 

THE soul's QUEST IO7 

IDEALISTS 108 

SOME DAY 109 

TO ONE WHO LOST I ID 

NOVEMBER II, I918 Ill 

PALINGENESIS 112 

NOTE 

Some of these poems have appeared in The 
New Republic and The Horce Scholasticce. 



El |JL€V yr\paj(TKei rh KaX6v, ficTdSos irplv dir^XOxi* 
cl 8^ |JL€V€i, Ti (|>oP'Q Tov6' o [jL€V€i 8i86vai; 



DRIFTWOOD 

I gathered driftwood by the sea 

Where waves had cast it 

On the shifting sands, 

And I with loving hands 

Did gather gladly, 

And within the dusk 

Of my own spirit 

Builded me a fire, 

A fire of driftwood; 

And the dancing flames 

Lighted my dusk ; 

Even so these gathered poems 

Are burned from driftwcod 

Garnered from my sea 

To light thy spirit. 

Driftwood burned for thee! 



[9] 



THY LOVE 

What though my share of pain be infinite ! 

And though my heart be shadowed by the wings 

Of Death's dark angel ! Though the scheme of 

things 
Bewilder and confuse ! What though my lot 
Be one of weariness and drudgery ! 
Yet have I known Life's richest mystery ! 
Thy love ! 

And all the ardor of the sea, 
And all the tender passion of the dawn, 
The far-off beauty of the stars, 
Have wrought a poem of thy love ! 
Thy love 
Has been to me 
An ecstasy 

Of lilies laughing in the spring! 
And in thine eyes 
The mysteries 
Of hidden magic pulse ! 
The sky 

Is but a flower, dim and blue, 
Star-silvered with eternal dew ! 
And I will make it strange and sweet 
With all the artless songs I sing ! 
And I will lay it at thy feet, 
A simple-hearted offering! 



[10] 



MY FANCY 

I sometimes think that you're a dream, 
That you're a strange and happy dream, 
That we are shadows, you and I, 
And so are all the things that die; 
Then, friend, I whisper, "Yes, 'tis so, 
Life is a fair green field, and God 
Is only some old sleepy tree 
That rustles in the wind, and we 
Are but His shadows on the sod!" 



[II] 



TO THEE 

As the swallows skim along the sands 
And swirl and dip along the sea, 
So on glad wings of song my dreams 
Skim away to thee ! 



[12] 



IF LOVE WILL GIVE ME WINGS 

If love will give me wings 

No human hand shall bind me down — 

I shall be free ! 

And I shall rise upon my wings 

And fly 

To thee ! 



[13] 



ONE I LOVE 

Infinite passion trembles in the west ; 
The mystic union of the night and day; 
And twihght bringing quietude and rest 
Raises mute eyes, eyes fathomless and gray 
With love that quickens all the dusky air ; 
I feel your love and passion everywhere 
Made living music in the passing wind. 



IM] 



TWILIGHT 

The sunset spreads great golden wings 

Across the quiet sky, 

Crowning with wreathes of smoke and mist. 

Pale diadems of amethyst, 

The gables peaked' and high; — 

Now all the dingy city seems 

Haunted with dreams; — 

And you and I 

Together in this little room 

Make magic of the golden gloom 

With Love's wild melody ! 

Outside the sunset fades away; — 

The sacred love of Night and Day 

Fills all the twilight of our room 

With passion-haunted dusk; — 

Your kiss 

Is like a flower on my lips . . . 

We are lost deep in twilight bliss, 

Even as Night and Day. 



[IS) 



LILIES 

Dew-silvered the tall lilies stand 
Pale in the shadow of the wall ; 

Each lily waiting for your hand 
To gather one and all. 

Each evening silvers them with dew; 

Each morning flatters them with gold; 
And still they stand and wait for you, 

Growing dim and old. 

At length they wither, spent and gray, 
Each lily bows its head and dies; 

To you who are so far away 
They are but memories. 

And I too, is it so with me? 

Have you no shadow of regret? 
Am I an idle memory 

Which you forget? 

For you the lilies bloomed and died ; 

For you they glimmered in the dew; 
They gave their loveliness and pride 

Only for you. 

Yet you must wither, lone and sad. 

You too must bow your head and die, 

Glad, if at all you can be glad. 
For their poor memory. 

[i6] 



OUR LADY OF PEACE 

Our Lady of Peace, ah where is she, 
The sweet Madonna, grave and tall. 
With lilies in her golden hair? 
Painted upon some convent wall 
Among the hills of Tuscany, 
A faded fresco, strangely fair. 
Grave-eyed Madonna standing there. 
Vine-shadowed on the Convent wall 
With lilies tangled in her hair. 
Lady of Peace to one and all. 

To-day she is no longer there 
For she has left the Convent wall — 
Men say that they have heard her weep 
And seen her shadow dim and tall 
Pass by the meadows where they reap ; 
Yet only poplars shake their leaves 
Over the reapers and their sheaves ; 
They only hear the poplars sigh 
Their broken-hearted melody! 
The wars and sorrows of to-day. 
These drive our Lady far away! 



[17] 



IN NO MAN'S LAND 

"Over the top and give 'em Hell !" — the cry 
Broke through the heavy, anxious atmosphere; 
His young heart shuddered, yet no thought of 

fear 
Entered his mind, he must obey that cry ; 
And so he charged ; he only heard a shrill, 
Hysteric whine, a blinding flash, and then 
A pain that darkened all the world — yet still 
He heard the maddening moan of dying men : 
And then he knew no more save the hoarse cry, 
"Over the top and give 'em Hell !" That cry. 

At length he raised his bruised and bleeding head. 
And saw the stars all winking in the sky. 
And heard their dizzy laughter, yet that cry 
Rang through his brain ; and all around the dead 
Lay huddled on the wastes of No Man's Land. 
Then someone moved unseen among the dead, 
A tall dark form, perchance a German: so 
The soldier grasped his bayonet in his hand 
And reared himself to strike the German. Lo, 
The figure turned! His great, tormented eyes. 
Mute with their love and pity, wanly smiled; — 
The soldier's hands fell trembling when he 

smiled. 
And he forgot that hoarse and maddened cry. 
It was the Lonely Man of Galilee 
Who whispered, "Little brother, it is I !" 

[i8] 



"FATHER FORGIVE THEM" 

War cannot help the world ! War cannot be 
Our ultimate salvation ! Hatred, crime 
Our heritage ! Did Christ die thus that we 
Might kill our brothers, that the course of Time 
Might prove His life was wasted, thrown away, 
To bring the crime and bloodshed of to-day? 

Somewhere in No Man's Land He stoops to 

bless 
The dying foeman, and His hand no less 
Comforts the dying enemy than friend; 
Above the fallen He will pause and bend 
To kiss their wounds — His words are broken, 

low: 
"Father forgive them for they do not know V 



[19] 



IN MEMORIAM 

FRANCIS LEDWIDGE, POET 

Within the hollow of the hand of God 
Lie all his gathered years, so few, so few, 

And all the happy meadows wheie he trod 
Are blind with tears of dew. 

He took Life's empty chalice and he filled 
Its emptiness with poetry and song, 

But now the wine of his young life is spilled. 
The wine that was so sweet, so clear and 
strong. 

The flowers who are gentle folk and wise 

Have hid his secrets — they will guard them 
well ; 

The happy soul that looked out through his eyes 
Has fled, the echo of a heather-bell. 

Yet he will come again and sing his songs, 
A swift-winged swallow, and the shifting days 

Shall be the happier for these his songs, 
The happier for these his artless lays. 



[20] 



IN MEMORIAM 
E. R. O. 

His life was but a fragmentary song — 
A clear, a haunting, rhythmic melody 
Broken by Death — yet it shall not be long 
Ere Life again will chaunt this melody 
The sweeter for the pause — Eternity 
Shall bow in silence — This his sacrifice 
Is measureless, and shall not be in vain ; 
For out beyond the fields of blood and pain 
God weeps because of His great sacrifice 
Who also died for Love and Purity. 



[21] 



OUR HERITAGE 

Shallow the heart of youth, and gay; 

Heedless we leave the School and go 

Along the twisted, broken way, 

Beyond the hills and fields we know 

Into the world; yet even so. 

Deep in our hearts, young though they be, 

Burns this dear hallowed memory: 

A Gothic tower lifted high 

Against the stars — the moon's faint tracery 

Of shifting moonbeams on the sleeping grass — 

Then all about the tower throng and pass 

Remembered faces, faces loved and dear; 

Remembered voices, voices young and clear. 

Echo across the moonlight, thus they pass 

Into our hearts. Ah, though long years glide by, 

And Time's gray fingers rend the dreams of 

youth 
From Life's bright loom, this memory, this truth 
Is ours, and shall be ours, eternally ! 



[22] 



HER SACRIFICE 

Across a smoky sea of dreary roofs 

The sunset flung a blinding, passionate light 

In at her window — Her dishevelled hair 

Glittered against her pale transparent flesh ; — 

Her dark eyes, heavy, listless, were so tired. 

So weary, and her sad mouth drooped, a flower 

Withered by Sin's hot kiss — the fevered light 

Painted the cobwebs on her window gold 

Like faery-lacework — with a sob she turned. 

Binding her hair up slowly . . . 

Oh that Life could sink so low ! 

With the quick hands of Sin 

She stained her lips, and with cheap finery 

Covered her body — when a child's faint cry 

Broke the close, dusty air ! She crossed the gloom 

And bent above a cradle, stooped to kiss 

A tiny baby-head ; the harlot's face 

Grew wild with savage, burning mother-love ; 

"For your sake, darling, have I done this thing! 

Over my sin-steeped body you shall pass 

To happier days . . . . " 

A stifled sob — she wrenched herself away! 

With a low laugh of anguish 

Down to the hungry streets she went alone. 



[23] 



A JAPANESE COLOR PRINT 

Two twisted pines, distorted phantom-trees, 

In aspect tortured like the human soul, 

Stand strange and lovely on the wave-worn 

shore, 
Lonely and beautiful — and all the sea 
Gray and eternal, beats along the sands, 
Gray and unending — and a shadow-moon, 
Pale as a paper-lantern in the dusk, 
Drifts in across the sea, and all the east 
Lies dim before the silent feet of night. 
Thus human souls stand lonely on the brink 
Of the unknowable and dream their dreams. 
Just as these trees dream by the restless sea. 
Twisted and gnarled by Time's unerring hand. 



[24] 



MY SILENCE 

When day's last wave has ebbed and starry tides 

Flood all the sky, then silence spreads vast wings 

To shelter me and guard me till the dawn ; — 

Oh silent spirit, born of peace and love, 

I go to cities where no love of thine 

Shall shelter me, for in the din and crowd 

Thy beauty is forgotten — 

Hungry souls 

Cry from dumb lips sealed with their hidden pain, 

And a strange pity clings about my heart 

Fluttering, frightened by the city's voice 

Rising and falling from a troubled world; 

Oh silence, I must hold thee in my heart 

To be a flame to guide me on my way — 

To bring me through the darkness to the light! 



[25] 



HIDDEN TRUTH 

Though autumn Hnger in the heart 
And pen the prelude of the dying year 
In crimson characters writ bold and clear 
Across Life's page, and though our share, our 

part 
Be one of sorrow, though the stinging smart 
Of early frost withers the spirit's bloom 
And seals our days with solitude and gloom, 
And Death's blind hands grope nearer, ever near ; 

Yet if we cherish in our hearts this truth: 
That Loveliness and Beauty never die ! 
Autumn and sorrow melt into a sigh 
Upon the glad' lips of immortal Youth — 
A ghostly cloud in a clear summer sky — 
The pause that lends to life its harmony ! 



[26] 



LIFE MORE ABUNDANT 

Though Beauty pause and turn away ; 

Though Love grow weary at the gate 
Of our dead hearts in cold dismay; 

Life more abundant is our ultimate ! 

We cannot linger in the grave, 

Deep though it be with rest and peace; 

Immortal longings in us crave 

Immortal happiness, untold release. 

For we must melt into the sun and air ; 

Must live in every tawny thrush's note — 
Our souls must dwell in all things everywhere- 

The golden sunbeam and the tiny mote. 

Life, only Life, pulsing, immortal song! 

Deep and mysterious, this must we be! 
Whether our span of days be swift or long, 

We must have Life the more abundantly ! 



[27] 



THE BIRTH OF SORROW 

Beyond all good and evil, lonely Life 
Bowed low her golden loveliness, and shed. 
Ah, many a tear ; 

Beyond all good and evil, midst the hum 
Of the eternal spheres there softly slept 
The Child of Death; 
Sorrow was born. 

Far beyond good and evil, heaven and hell. 
Sorrow was bom. 

There where the sapphire pinnacles of ice 
High towering o'er the firmament of heaven, 
Sorrow, the child of God's most thoughtful mood. 
Clad in robes of woven sighs and tears, 
Pale as the flowers of Forgetfulness, 
Beyond all good and evil, there she stood. 
And then she took a mantle of dark thoughts, 
Woven from soft, rich fabrics of the sky. 
And wrapped it 'round her, clasped it with a star. 
And came down softly to the trembling earth. 
Sorrow, the child of God's most thoughtful 
mood. 



[28] 



COMMUNION 

It is the gentle feast of memory, 

The Lord's Last Supper — on the altar glow 

The twin-flames of His Spirit — and our hearts 

Lie open to receive our Master's love ; 

The crumb of blessed bread, the simple wine ! 

The dear dead drawing near us, thus we kneel 

Low at the gentle feast of Memory. 



[29] 



GETHSEMAXE 

The flo\ver6 linger in Gethsemane, 
Linger beneath the age-gray oHve trees ; 
The grass is patterned with their traceries — 
The garden glimmers with their loveliness; 
The flowers linger in Gethsemane, 
Burdened with summer's honeyed heaviness. 

The flowers whisper in Gethsemane, 

The flowers 'neath the ghostly olive trees, 

About a Lonely Man whose agonies 

Fell in great drops of blood upon their heads; 

The heads of flowers in Gethsemane — 

A Lonely Man who wept above their heads. 

And still they linger in Gethsemane 

Under the olive trees and cypress shades, 

A pageantr}' of bloom that never fades, 

Dew-silvered by the tears that once were shed, 

Shed in the Garden of Gethsemane 

By One whose heart with love and anguish bled. 

Deep in the Garden of Gethsemane 
The lowly flowers kneel in grateful prayer, 
Because the Lonely ^lan who suffered there 
Blessed them with peace — with His Eternal 

peace — 
Deep in the Garden of Gethsemane 
He blessed the flowers with eternal peace, 

[30] 



THE HAND OF GOD 

The hand that wrote the poem of Life 

Across the blank page of eternity; 

The hand that chiseled from the -stars a world 

And shadowed it to give it night and day; 

The hand that wrought the winged heart of man, 

A creature moulded from warm clay — 

This hand 

Is really not a hand at all, 

But Love, 

And Love will break and mould our hearts anew ! 



[31] 



THE CROWD 

To be one with the white-hpped passing throng- 
To drift on the tide of suifering — 
To feel the pulse of fettered hearts 
Under the bleeding feet of Pain 
Passing down endless city streets, 
Is to feel the light of hidden Truth, 
That deep in the heat of all mankind 
Beauty is struggling to free her wings 
From the heavy hands that bind the soul, 
The hands of Ignorance and Sin! 



[32] 



BIRTH 

Out of the sky, far out beyond the sea, 

Gliding on wings of infinite desire. 

Strong wings of flashing silver, 

A sea-bird floats; 

Even so a new born thought 

On wings of wonder 

Glides forth from the soul. 



[33] 



MORTAL LOVE 

The kiss each wave brings to the shore 
Lingering long with trembling lips, 
Is but the symbol of our love 
Quivering on the sands of Time. 



[34] 



OUT OF THE DUST 

Out of the dust the poppy springs ; 
Out of the dust the Hly grows; 
Out of the dust the passioned rose 
Blossoms — this round of common things. 
This httle dust-born dream of ours, 
Blossoms and withers with the flowers! 



[35] 



OUR HEAVEN 

Where roses blow across the way; 
Where night's a shadow, and where day 
Is a white flower, and where Song 
Is one with all the world — There we, 
Though weary be the quest and long, 
Shall one day dwell, dear friend, and sing. 
The children of eternal Spring! 



[36] 



YOUR EYES 

Eyes gray and lovely, mingled dark with blue ; 

Eyes both a passion and a sanctity; 

Wonderful eyes, tender and deeply true ; 

Such are your eyes, dear friend, in them I find 

Love that is infinite and kind ; 

Deep in the wonder of your eyes 

All of Love's simple mysteries! 



[37] 



MY DREAMS 

When evening in a veil of blue 

Lights the lanterns of the stars 

And with diadems of dew 

Crowns the nenuphars, 

Then all my dreams spread wings and fly 

Beyond the starry wealth of sky 

To thee — 

When veiled in rose and amethyst 
Dawn snuffs the tapers of the stars; — 
When on the pool, afloat in mist. 
Sleep the nenuphars, 
Then all my dreams fly home to me. 
Each dream a winged mystery 
From thee ! 



[38] 



A PAINTED PARASOL 

Have we been thus before? 

We two alone 

Together on some crescent shore 

Of curving gold and gray ? 

This glow of fire 

The embers of a dying day? 

This parasol of painted paper 

Spread to shelter us 

From pearls of dew 

Dusk-scattered on the sleeping beach 

Like tiny silver stars? 

And this veiled sense of peace, 

Is it the shadow of a love 

Dreamed in another world 

Remote and far? 

Was I your poet then 

And you my star? 

Or were we simple peasant lovers 

Dreaming by a silent sea ? 



[39] 



A BROKEN FRIENDSHIP 

Strange little friend of yesterday, 

Although to you and me it seems 

That yesterdays are only dreams 

Ever so far away — 

Although your love for me seems dead 

And friendship's flame bums dim and low, 

By all the things we ever said 

You know it is not so — 

You know it is not so, and we 

Are friends for all eternity. 

Although the years shall drift between 

And tides of Time creep o'er Life's sands 

And Death with heavy, listless hands 

Gathers the fruit of love, 

You know that in some starry place 

We two shall meet, and face to face 

Find once again our happy love 

And prove that it is true — 

You know it, little gray-eyed friend, 

Even as I love you — 

It matters not if Time shall part 

Our bodies — for in God's old Heart 

All friendships live anew ! 



[40] 



OUR SOULS 

Thy voice is echoed by the broken waters 
In slow, sad syllables along the shore; 
And all thy look is mirrored in the passion 
Of these gray dawns and of these limpid even- 
ings, 
Thy look, a gleam of loveliness and prayer . . . 
Yet thou art but the chattel of another, 
And all thy beauty and thy wonder lie 
In his rough hands to serve his will and pleas- 
ure; — 
All, all is his except thy flame-white soul. 
An ember broken from some lonely star; — 
Beyond the dawn, thy soul and mine shall quiver 
On wings of flame. 
Children of living light ! 
For thou art mine, and I am thine forever! 
Stars in the night ! 



[41] 



NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1918 

Another year has shaken down its days, 
Gray shadow-leaves across the drifted snow. 
And it is New Year's, happy New Year's day ; 
Old sleepy Time, awakened from his dreams. 
Finds a great sorrow on the troubled world. 
And leaning from the stars, his laughter falls 
In silver echoes on the homes of men; 
And yet for me this day has held great joy — 
Peace, infinite and measureless, has filled 
My heart with quiet love for you, my friend. 
Oh, though war wastes the weary hills and fields, 
And wild contentions sever friend from friend, 
And Life and Love pass through the Gates of 

Death— 
Though Beauty perish — Friendship's lowly lamp 
Glows pure and white against the world's dark 

heart 
And shatters all the shadow of the soul. 



[42] 



WINTER'S LAMENT 

The teeth of Time are in my heart 
And I am grave and old; 
The hillsides and the meadows start 
Alive with gold! 

The swallows quicken all the air 
With happy twitterings, yet I, 
Broken and lonely with despair, 
Wither and die. 

Spring comes on swift, impassioned feet 
With lilies in her hair ; 
The meadows blossom, deep and sweet. 
Unutterably fair. 

Yet I must go, I cannot stay 
Companion of the golden Spring — 
Heart-broken, I must turn away, 
A lonely shadow-thing. 



[43] 



SPRING IN A CITY 

The melodies of melting snow, 

Thin little melodies and sweet, 

Along the dirty gutters sing, 

And the old elm-tree in the street 

Puts forth its tiny buds and leaves 

And dreams about the lazy spring — 

The sparrows in the sooty eaves 

Wrangle, their chatter startles me. 

As I, lost deep in reverie. 

Dream wistfully about the Spring; — 

Then I forget the city's din. 

The sparrows and the dirty snow. 

The hopelessness, disease and sin; — 

Only I feel the south-wind blow 

Across wide meadows of young grain; 

I feel the sweet, luxurious pain 

Of new life stirring through the wakening 

world — 
The pulsing of some swallow's wing — 
The breath of hyacinths ! I know 
That thou art near, O Spring, my Spring ! 



[44] 



• 



PASSING SPRING 

Wild hyacinths make sweet the tender grass; 

The dew-kissed crocus stars the windy mead; 

And Spring makes musical a simple reed 

With Summer's passion! And we feel her pass 

On joyous feet over the wakened wold! 

The daffodils all riotous with gold 

People the glades ! The Spring is passing by 

Filling the heart with happy melody ! 



[45] 



APPLE BLOSSOMS 

The apple blossoms blow in May, 
Each blossom but the kiss of Spring 
Against the trees* bare limbs; 
Wind-scattered all across the grass 
They weave a starry covering 
Where with her passionate array 
The blue-eyed Spring shall pass ! 



[46] 



OUR BLINDNESS 

Boughs of apple blossoms swing 
Heavy-scented in the lane; 
Songs of thrushes throb and ring, 
Songs melodious with pain, 
Pain of love, and laughing Spring, 
Spring, bare-footed, foolish Spring, 
Blossom-decked across the grass 
Dances — 
And we let her pass ! 



[47] 



BEES 

My thoughts like little droning, golden bees 
Work in the honeyed cells of poetry; 
Silent mysterious, they gather up 
The secret whisperings of ancient trees, 
The laughter of the meadows . . . busily 
They cull the fragrance of the flower's cup, 
And work among the shadows of the hive, 
Building their golden structure, sleepily 
Crooning their drowsy music as they strive 
To mould the golden cells of poetry. 



[48] 



A CUBIST DREAM 

An azure goat beside a yellow brook, 

A grove of purple trees with glossy leaves, 

A greenish figure poring o'er a book, 

A cottage with white swallows on the eaves, 

A wine-dark mountain, looming over all. 

Casting red shadows — an appalling dream! 

I hear the greenish figure give a scream 

The azure goat has eaten it ; leaves fall ; 

And all is bluish blurr. 

I wake, and in the stir 

Of birds among the oaks across the lawn, 

Give thanks that this is not a Cubist dawn ! 



[49] 



RAIN 

Quiet, monotonous, and sad, 
Peaceful and gently falling rain, 
I love your little pattering feet 
That bring faint memories again, 
When he — Oh wistful, gray-eyed lad. 
Who came with loving heart to greet 
A dusty wanderer, made glad 
A heart which sleepless sorrow had 
Outworn with many a pain. 
Quiet, monotonous, and sad', 
The little songs the raindrops sing 
Are pleasant: it has made me glad 
To taste the memories they bring. 



[50] 



OLD JAPAN 

The crooked willows whisper by the stream ; 
The temple bell rings softly, Kwanon smiles; 
All this is like some happy, happy dream ; 
The semi sing among the bamboo trees ; 
The Shinto shrine beside the long white road 
Which dwindles among rice fields, sunny miles, 
Is silent : and that quaint, brown wrinkled man 
Is an old peasant out of Old Japan. 
Friend, let us leave this hurried Western world 
And wander down dream paths in Old Japan. 



[51] 



MEMORIES 

The evening came down softly; rose and gray 
Glimmered the ruffled waters, and the peace, 
Wind-whispered among pines, seemed infinite; 
The west glowed faintly and the night's release 
Brought cool, hushed twilight in the wake of day; 
Peace filled the fading hollows of the sky 
With starry darkness, and the memory 
Of dear dead friendships sobbed among the 

pines, 
Pines murmurous with music of the wind. 
Thus, when the waters ruffle, rose and gray. 
And night stoops down to bind the brows of day 
With beauty that is half a mystery, 
Thus, in the hours of twilight oft I find 
Phantoms that whisper in the passing wind, — 
Ghosts from the twilit land of Memory. 



[52] 



AN IVORY CASKET 

Night spreads her wings over the wearied day 

And folds the earth's warm meadows in her arms 

And presses starry kisses on the brow 

Of furrowed Ocean, and the old world sleeps, 

Quiet and happy as a little child. 

Then in the silent hours I open up 

A casket chiseled from smooth ivory 

And filled with fragments of old memories; 

Colorless petals of a withered rose — 

Verses and letters yellow from Time's hands; 

I lose myself among these trifling things 

Until against the window-pane white Dawn 

Shall press her face and summon me away. 



[53] 



A SACRIFICE 

And it was only yesterday 

We parted, you and I, dear friend? 

The meadows sang along the way, 

The flowers marshalled their array 

Along the warm sweet, dust- white road); 

And then we parted, friend from friend 

Parted, we felt it was the end. 

Yet dared not tell each other eo, 

And sorrow, the Great Shepherd's goad 

That drives men over life's strange ways. 

Wounded my heart, I turned, and low 

Your words were, dreamy, far-away, 

"Goodl-bye" — your hand in mine, and then 

You vanished in the long dark train — 

You went to suffering and pain, 

A sacrifice for lesser men — 

I tarried by the lonely way — 

Friend, was this only yesterday? 

And was it only yesterday 

I read your letter and I knew 

How much our friendship meant to you, 

And more than everything to me? 

I heard it from your mother's lips. 

She sent for me. I found her there. 

There in your little room alone; 

She trembled very white and still — 

"He died for you and me," she said), 

[54] 



"He went down fearless to the dead . . . 

Dead on the Field of Honor, dead, 

My little boy, your friend ..." 

Then all my heart grew dull and still; 

She turned away and wept, but I, 

I lingered in your little room 

Alone with your dear memory. 

Pale evening came and found me there 

Dumb with my grief — and yet your doom 

Has been a flaming sacrifice ; 

Has granted you a large release, 

Vast and immeasurable peace. 

The unknown Peace of God! 

Deep in your simple sacrifice 

You found the Peace of God ! 



[55] 



HER ANSWER 

"Oh Love has broken bread with you 

And drunk the sudden wine of Youth, 

And you have thought in him you knew 

The glory of eternal Truth — 

And now he limps with wounded wings 

Along your life's bewildered way; 

The awful arm of Sorrow flings 

A shadow on the face of day, 

And you are beaten and bereft 

Of Love's bright kiss — what do you say 

Now love has left?" 

Your answer falters — yet I hear 

Your voice, mysterious and clear ; 

"I do not weep because I know 

That Love will come again and bless 

With baby hands my heart, and so 

I shall find happiness!" 



[56] 



A RETROSPECT 

The years have lifted as it were a mi-st, 
Shadows of Time across Life's open page, 
And once again I am a little boy 
Kneeling before the altar deep in prayer, 
Bewildered somewhat by the sudden touch 
Of God's communion — I, a little boy, 
Happy and young, whole-hearted, undismayed. 
Since then the years have drifted in between 
And I am older, wiser, sadder now 
Than on that evening seven years ago 
In this quiet chapel — and the hungry years 
Devour my bright childhood — seven years 
Wither the dreams and ardours of my youth. 



[57] 



TO THE FOG 

Ye ghostly wraiths that cling about the brows 
Of ageless mountains — ye gray shreds of mist, 
Slow echoes of unearthliness that cry 
From sorrowful lips of waves which sob and 

sigh, 
Scarce audible, along the lonely rocks. 
Why creep ye in among the coasts and coves 
And bind the ancient brows of sleeping hills, 
Drenching the meads and woodlands with strange 

dew, 
And haunting man with all the loneliness 
And sorrow and unhappy melody? 



[S8] 



LOST LOVE 

You know that in my living heart 
I bear your image graven deep — 
So deep that it shall be a part 
Of my last sleep ! 
You shall not then be as you are, 
Remote, ineffable, yourself a star! 
You shall draw near and fold me 
With wings of starry flame, 
Shall clasp me close and hold me 
And all Love ever told me 
Shall echo in the passion 
Of your unuttered name ! 
Your eyes grown deeper, dimmer- 
Your lips a broken prayer — 
And over me shall glimmer 
The halo of your hair! 



[59] 



EVEN SO 

Perhaps I cared for you too much, 

Perhaps I did, I cannot tell ; 
If so, I knew the pain of such 

As love too well. 

Your laughing eyes, so dear and grave, 
Smile at me yet across the years — 

I loved too much? — If so I have 
Paid with my tears. 

Our friendship was a happy dream? 

Foolish perhaps? Yet even so 
Your quaint, gray, laughing eyes still gleam 

From long ago ! 



[60] 



THY HAIR 

Thy hair has caught the mystery 
Of sunHght playing among leaves ! 
All golden shadows ! 'Tis a fair, 
Wonderful web of golden hair 
Which the Sun's unseen fingers weave 
To snare my heart and capture me ! 



[6i] 



ECSTASY 

To-day the sky has caught up to his breast 
The happy world in wind-swept passion — we 
Are only children of the Earth and Sky ! 
Our souls eternal dreams ! Oh you and I 
Are one with Nature and we shall not die ! 
We too are caught up in the Sky's caress, 
Seeking through Love and Beauty, happiness! 



[62] 



WE WHO ARE NEAR TO ONE ANOTHER 

We who are near to one another, we 

Who are as wind and sunlight, you andi I, 

Find in our narrow world eternity. 

Fathomless as the wide-rimmed depth of sky 

Starless before the passion of the dawn! 

Lo, Love has caught old Time and bound him 

fast 
Between the pale horns of the crescent moon; 
The proud-lipped seas, so passionate and vast, 
Have sunk to silence, and the mountains croon 
Low lullabies to all the little hills ; 
For Love has kissed the world! His music 

thrills 
The desert sands with laughter and with song! 
We who are near to one another, we 
Have found within our hearts eternity! 



[63] 



PRELUDE 

The poplars laugh against the wind ; 
Their laughing leaves flash silvery 
Against the windy, turquoise sky ! 
Life is a poem fluted low 
On reedy pipes — and )^ou and I 
Are poplar leaves against the sky, 
Wind-wafted words of melody! 



[64] 



EVENING 

The west grew sacred like a prayer 

Upon the dying lips of Day, 
As through the dusk gleamed star by star 

The poem of the Milky Way. 



[6s] 



A KISS 

Trembling, he stooped to kiss her hair 

With an impassioned tenderness — 

I turned away, and in my heart 

Came a strange springtime — sudden wings- 

The memories of withered springs 

In other Hves lived long ago ; 

And all my heart beat swift with pain 

To feel Love's happy, bleeding feet 

Dancing a rhythm wild and sweet 

Over my lonely heart again ; — 

I felt the old, old aching bliss 

Anew in that brief, broken kiss! 



[66] 



BY THE CORNISH SEA 

Long years ago, 

Ah, very long ago, you lived and loved. 

And in your kisses and your loves and tears 

Life throbbed and sang, and one by one the years 

Withered, and you too withered, you v^ho loved 

Long years ago 

Within these ruined halls, 

Tristan and Iseult! This gray Cornish sea 

And these wild rocks, and this low crumbling wall 

Of ancient palace and the sea-birds' cries. 

Lonely and strange, and their gray pulsing wings. 

All bring to me the passion of your love 

And of your lives, your ardors, and your 

dreams, 
Inevitably doomed to sorrow — You 
Who loved and sinned so poignantly, and died 
Glad to have lived and loved and sinned, and 

glad 
To die with one another ! 
Oh gray coasts 

And tortured winds, so passionate with stars 
And deepening twilight, sweeping to the sea, 
Kissing to madness the pale waves, and ye 
White sea-birds crying to the lonely skies, 
Bring back to me the memories 
Of those wild lovers wrapped in mystery 
Long years ago 
By this lone Cornish sea ! 

[67] 



THE SEA'S CRY 

Eternal songs, gray songs and cold, 
The lone sea lisps along tEe sands, 

Long level streaks of gray and gold 
Smoothed by the sea's gray hands ; 

Life's restless passion seems to me 
Forever echoed by the sea. 



[68] 



SEA-COMFORT 

When I have lost the music of my soul 

Among the ugly trifles of life's ways, 

And in the dust and hurry of the crowd 

The tenor of my days 

Seems lost in sordid, paltry, petty things; 

Then when my way is blind, my goal unknown, 

I go out to the lonely wastes of sea 

And find my music, clear and beautiful. 

Where great waves dash themselves against the 

rocks 
In passioned ecstasy to find some peace. 
Some little peace along these empty shores ! 
There lost in dreams of sea-gray reverie 
I find my soul in all its harmony, 
A harmony of stars and wings . . . 

Oh, when thy light burns low and all thy soul 
Seems darkened, get thee to the surging sea 
Where lone bleak coasts sing with the laughing 

waves 
Their clean, strong music — Thou shalt find thy- 
self 
In the wild voices of the windy waves, 
Shalt find thyself in all thy harmony! 



[69] 



TO MY FAERY-GODMOTHER 

You who are dear and good to me 
And fond of simple, lovely things, 
Flowers and stars and melodies 
And little children — all that brings 
Beauty and happiness and light 
To others' lives, you give to me, 
Dear Faery-godmother — and so 
When all the stars are growing white 
And shadows lengthen long and low. 
And I am lonely, then you call 
To me across the fading sky, 
Your voice itself a melody 
Of lovely words that gently fall 
Into my heart — Ah, thus the call 
Of your far friendship comes to me 
A simple, loving harmony. 



[70] 



A CHOPIN WALTZ 

Oh haunting, wistful waltz that sings 
Sad little melodies, like leaves, 
Bright leaves of autumn, gleams of gold. 
Pattering down upon the cold, 
Brown, genial countenance of earth. 
Why do you haunt me? 
Clear as a golden autumn day ; 
Sad as a withered! autumn leaf; 
Bright as a falling star, and brief 
As Love's last broken shadow-kiss, 
Oh ghostly waltz, why haunt you me? 



[71] 



CHILDHOOD 

Oh, all the stars are merry in the sky 
And God is singing to the baby moon ; 
The drowsy earth is silent, with it I 
Go dreaming back to all the careless years 
When we were children, and when idle fears 
Were no more than the shadows of the moon- 
When every flower spoke with us, and when 
We danced unmindful of the ways of men. 
And now the stars are merry in the sky, 
For they are only children, and the moon 
Slumbers, enchanted by the melody 
Which God is singing — Oh it must be soon 
When we shall dance as children once again, 
Happy, unmindful of the ways of men! 



[72] 



OPEN COUNTRY 

To live forever in the open country! 

To breathe forever large clear draughts of air ! 

To dwell with dreams close to the heart of 

Nature 
In happiness : 
This is my dearest hope — 
Rich in the happiness of open country 
To pass my days and die. 

There is great wonder in the open country 
Where flowers make glad laughter, where the 

fields 
Tremble beneath the wind's caressing fingers ! 
Oh take me back where open country surges 
In wind-swept billows to the windy sky ! 
Oh take me to the heart of open country 
To pass my days and die! 



[73] 



TO FLAMES 

Ye little dreams of long- forgotten sunlight, 
Ye ghosts of summer's passion bom again ! 
Thin flames that dance among the dying embers 
Bringing the wealth of perished Junes to gladden 
The autumn dusks with promise of new life — 
Awake again within my heart remembrance 
Of love and sunlight, happiness and song, 
Old memories all pregnant with the promise 
Of unborn Beauty in the days to come ! 



[74] 



MOONLIGHT 

Last night the moon stole down to touch 
With loving fingers all the glade-s, 
Leaving a lingering sweetness there 
All silvery and strange — 
Almost it seemed that I could feel 
The earth's deep bosom rise and fall 
In happy slumber — like a dream 
The moonlight drifted o'er her face; 
I felt a creature of her dreams, 
Meshed in the moonbeams' lace ! 



[75] 



FROM THE CLIFFS 

When a great golden moon climbed slow 
Into the deepening wealth of sky 
Bathing the dusk-bound curve of shore 
In magic splendor, you and I 
Watched the dim waters lap the sands 
All glowing from the moon's embrace — 
The yellow image of her face 
Mirrored in the sea's gray glass 
Smiled up at us — time seemed to pause 
And bless us — Did we feel him pas6? 
Or did the night- wind call, and we 
Catch echoes of its melody? 



[76] 



TO A SHELL 

Tossed on the sands by the spendthrift sea, 

Dirged by the waves so lovingly, 

What little creature dwelt in thee? 

What little heart beat here and knew 

Sorrow and happiness 

All through blue days 

Dreamed in the greater blue 

Immensity of sea? 

Thou fragment of eternity, 

How can I solve thy mystery ? 



[77] 



SLUMBER SONG 

Sleep, little flower, sleep ! 

The faeries bring thee happy dreams 

In poppy-cups all silver-white ; 

The little stars will -shed their beams 

Over thy slumbers, and the night 

Herself will bend above thy bed 

To kiss thy tiny, drowsy head; 

Sleep, little flower, sleep and dream. 

For things are never what they seem; 

But thou must sleep and dream away 

The hours that strew the path of day 

With stars and shadows, mauve and gray; 

Sleep, little flower, sleep! 



[78] 



RAIN-SONG 

Among the leaves, across the grass, 
Dancing on nimble, silver feet, 
A never-ending rout they pass, 
Gray little raindrops, cool and sweet; 
Dancing along my window-pane 
They chant a haunting low refrain! 
Gay, dancing drops of merry rain 
Come singing from the heavy skies 
Kissing the languid leaves and flowers, 
Splashing aloud their melodies 
Along the pathway as they pass 
A laughing troop across the grass 
In little fitful gusts and showers ! 
What are the songs the raindrops sing? 
I know not, only that they bring 
Deep draughts of life to all the earth; 
Sorrow and pleasure, pain and mirth, 
In one clear, happy note they sing ! 
They dance along the hills and seem 
Across the world a covering — 
The echo of a thought, a dream 
Of Time — the shadow of his wing! 



[79] 



EVEN SONG 

The garden glimmers in the hush 
And quiet aftermath of day; 

The lonely anthem of a thrush 
Quickens the silence — far away 

A wild dove mourns, and shadows fall 
Along the formal garden wall. 

You come to me across the grass, 
Girl with the honey-colored hair; 

Brushing the dew aside you pass 
Along the garden paths, and where 

The flowers sleep, you pause to bless 
Each flower in your gentleness. 

And then you come to me and kiss 
My weary forehead, and you go 

Into the dusk, content with this 
Brief touch of love — ^yet even so 

I know that some day we shall be 
Together in eternity! 



[80] 



THE MOTH 

This silent moth that flits about the flame 

Carries within his dusky breast 

A heart of purest gold; 

His quest 

The unattainable, 

The flame of star- strange passion 

Luring him to death. 

Freely he gives his body to the flame 

To fall with singed wings, 

Quivering, to die; — 

A victim of his sacrifice ; — 

His soul 

The symbol of man's own; — 

He dies to prove 

Through sacrifice 

The sanctity of love! 



[8i] 



THE HAUNTED CASTLE 

This poem ivas ivritten for the Symphonic Narrati-ve of Michel Divor sky 

•which ivas first played by the Philadelphia Symphonic Orchestra, 

November 28th, igi8. 

Ripples of silver light on the horizon; — 
A foam of stars along the ebbing day; — 
Weird music breaks the silence, lone and far, 
The Norns are singing low their fateful song; — 
I see a pleasant valley, fruitful, wide, 
And rich in meadowlands, and jutting crags, 
Infinite steeps of rock whose rugged brows 
Are wreathed in mist which slowly melts 

away ; — 
A shaft of lingering light strikes on the walls 
Of an old castle towering on high. 
Proud and majestic in its loneliness! 
And yet a sadness fills the dusky air 
As night creeps noiselessly about the world, 
And vast clouds gather, ominous and strange; 
A sudden flash and thunder! — Far away 
The roaring echoes, and an ill v/ind stirs . . . 
The Norns are spinning the thin thread of Fate 
When a shriek rends the night — the thin thread 

breaks 
All is still again . . . 

Dark shadows creep along; 
Unearthly creatures gambol in the wind 
At ghostly play about the castle walls. 
Teasing each other, chasing through the night 
Until their play grows angry and they rush 

[82] 



On one another grappling savagely ! 
With swift contemptuous feet and deadly hands 
A thousand demons leap into the air, 
Rushing upon the forms of evil darkness 
In maddened turmoil through the stormy night! 
Wild hungry flames break from the lofty towers 
And the great castle totters, crumbles, falls, 
A proud and broken ruin! And the storm 
Subside-s, and all the demons fade away . . . 
The Norns again are singing and a peace. 
The hallowed peace of God falls on the land — 
A deep distress weighs on my heart — Revolt 
Stirs all my soul against the fate, the fate 

Of the castle once so passionately fair; 

Yet Hope, the child of sorrow, comes to me 
A vision — And again the castle floats 
More glorious, more luminous, above 
Infinite valleys bright with waving grain 
Where peasants toil in the warm golden light — 
Only a dream, a vision! Through the dark 
Pale ruins glimmer, sorrowful and lone, 
The ruined castle ! And my soul is left 
Bewildered, wandering, wandering . . . 



[83] 



DARK HEARTS 

The slender poppies sway and nod 
Along the dusty road — we pass 
In heedless haste ! The Hand of God 
Has fashioned them and made them fair 
And planted them to be a glass 
Wherein we read our fate, and where 
We may find Beauty and may see 
In death itself eternity. 
And yet we pass and do not heed 
Their loveliness, and do not mark 
The flower from the tawdry weed 
Because our hearts are dark ! 



[84] 



DAWN 

The dawn was desolate and gray 
Over the slumbering streets and town; 
You slept and did not seem to heed 
The sorrow of the heavy dawn; 
And in the shifting web of dreams 
That clung about your sleeping form 
I saw the flutter of your soul, 
Awakened, striving to be free, 
Even as the silver streaks of day 
Gleam through the eyelids of the East; 
I saw your soul on trembling wings 
Meshed in the cobwebs of your dreams, 
Striving to shed in vour dark heart 
The calm light of eternity. 



[85] 



TO ONE WHO SENT ME VERSES 

How can I thank the heavens for the wind 
That Hfts the leaves? The breath from other 

hills? 
The lingering fragrance of another's flowers? 
The hallowed glimpse into another's heart? 
How can I thank you, how? 
Only I love the fragrance of wild roses, 
The wind-born savor blown from lonely hills, 
The leaves, the stars, the verses of a friend, 
Occult, intangible, the passions of your soul; — 
I love them and am grateful, strangely so. 
For they have made their music in my heart — 
I cannot thank you for I love them so ! 



[86] 



YOUR VOICE 

Your voice is all I know of you ; 

Sometimes it is a melody 

Of stars and children 

And of Love and Pain; 

The voice of Beauty trembling in the wind. 

Sometimes it is a nearer voice, 

A voice of Friendship, helpful, kind, 

That floods my heart with sympathy. 

Your voice is ever with me, distant friend); 
In loneliness, in bitterness, in pain. 
In happiness, I feel its echoes deep 
Within my heart — ^your voice is ever near, 
Whether as song or winged thought, to me 
It rings a silver echo, strong and clear, 
A voice of friendship and of melody. 



[87] 



AT SANDY NECK 

Sky, dunes, and sea ! An ecstasy of light 

Where the sun flings a golden arm to clasp 

This beauty ! — I have known it long ago ! 

And you as now you dream, 

I knew you so, 

And dreamed I was a child, 

Your child, perhaps ... 

Only the wind sighs and the waves laugh low ; 

Were you my mother long, so long ago? 



[88] 



TO A POET-FRIEND 

Sheltered by pines 

That croon low lullabies ; — 

Caressed by winds — 

Here thou hast builded thee 

A temple for thy dreams; 

And here thy poems 

Came singing from thy heart 

To spread glad wings 

And fly forth unafraid 

Into the world ! 

And here I too 

Found Love and Friendship — 

Here I found new life; 

Here warmed my heart 

Before thy spirit's flame, 

And went forth to the world 

With singing lips ! 

From thee I learned 

That grief and pain 

And happiness and love 

Are but the portals 

To a larger life! 

Great gates of pearl 

That open to the Dawn 

Where Truth is but a laughing child. 

And Beauty but a star ! 



[89] 



OUR DAWN 

All the lives I ever lived; 
All the dreams I ever dreamed; 
All the things that ever seemed 
Strange and beautiful and true ; 
All I ever loved and knew, 
Lived and died and were reborn 
In the beauty of this dawn 
Seen alone with you ! 



[90] 



O BEAUTY! THOU ART GOD 

Day ebbed along the dunes — 

Wave after wave 

Crumbling along the sands 

Left laughing pools 

That flung back to the sky 

With lavish scorn 

Dim crimsons dusted gold — 

A blended radiance 

Of sky and sea! 

And winged clouds 

Caught up the sunset's flame 

In sacramental splendor ! 

Dusking dunes 

Were bowed in passioned prayer — 

And from the sea's gray lips 

I caught a song, 

A psalm of sky and sea, 

"O Beauty, thou art God !" 

The virgin moon 

Slipped from her veils 

Of silver gossamer 

And trembled to her lover Night 

Whose swift, dark, hungry arms 

Reached out 

To clasp her loveliness — 

The star-kissed waves 

Crooned to the sleepy sands; 

[91] 



The wind 

Whispered among the gUmmering dunes, 
"O Beauty, thou art God !" 

Violet-shadowed, 

Rose and blue. 

The waters laughed; 

Great golden planets dipped 

Along the silver dunes. 

Mute symbols of the magic touch of Love 

Within our hearts; 

The halo of the Dawn 

Flamed far across the east — 

With a glad cry 

Day flung across the mocking waves 

The azure mantle of the sky! 

My heart within me throbbed and sang, 

"O Beauty, thou art God !" 



[92] 



INVOCATION 

The wind comes laughing from, Japan, 
The wind comes laughing from the stars, 
And laughing mocks at striving man ! 
Mocks laughing at his selfish wars ! 
Ride on the laughing winds with me, 
Dear friend, and find in Old Japan 
Those echoings of melody 
That mingle in the soul of man. 
And build of dreams the ghostly span 
That links us with eternity! 



[93] 



BOLETUS 

Like golden mushrooms 

Thought by thought 

Pushes up through the mind's rich loam; 

But with a careless glance we pass 

And deem them poisonous — 

With scorn 

We brush these grotesque thoughts aside, 

Thoughts that have hearts of gold! 



[94] 



SYMPATHY 

As I have seen the sunset 

Fling a glance, 

A look of deepening pain, 

And all the sea 

Catch wave by wave its crimson, 

So to-day 

When in your eyes, 

Blue shadowed gray. 

There came a look of pain. 

My own flashed back your spirit's light 

In tear-dimmed sympathy ! 



[95] 



PRELUDE TO AUTUMN 

I found a sere leaf on the path to-day, 

A leaf of autumn; 

The willow tree that arched above me sighed 

As when a woman finds her hair first gray 

And sighs 

Even so the willow bowed its head, 

Saddened to see its first leaf fade and fall ; 

And so, perchance, Death's mysteries 

Are but the darker dreams of Nature's sleep. 

And withered leaves the tears that old trees shed 

Over her head, 

When they feel Nature suffering, and weep. 



[96] 



A THRUSH'S GHOST 

A thrush's ghost 

With shadow song 

Thrills the gray autumn gloom, 

As from this half- charred bough 

A golden flame 

Flickers and dies ; 

And in its perished radiance there lurks 

The passion of some thrush's heart 

Pulsing beneath a speckled breast — 

And in the shadow on the hearth 

The fluttering of tawny wings — 

Yet lonely is the song it sings 

Within my heart 

This autumn day! 



[97] 



OLD SUMMER 

The fleeting swallows have fled the days, 
And Summer bereft is still and sad ; 
No longer are her meadows glad 
With golden wheat and golden maize. 

The bees have plundered all her flowers 
And loaded deep their quiet cells 
With treasure from the heather-bells 
That blossom amid mists and showers. 

Poor Summer's locks are thin and gray, 
Her former radiance is fled; 
Love, like the heather-bells, is dead, 
And all the birds have flown away. 



[98] 



SUMMER'S SACRIFICE 

How wan the sunlight gleams among the trees; 

How cold, how dead, the wind; 

How lorn the yellow drifts of withered leaves; 

How sad, how sad ! 

Summer has sung her song, 

Has spent her gold. 

Has gone down lonely 

To the lonely dead, — 

Has sacrificed her all 

To motherhood! 



[99] 



MY DAYS 

Bewildering as swiriing autumn leaves 

My days drift by with happiness and grief. 

Each beautiful as every painted leaf, 

Each mocking me, these merry, merry thieves 

Of my bright hours of childhood and of youth 

Carry me onward toward God's silent truth. 

They are as friends whom I have loved and lost ; 

They are as spent and withered memories; 

And by them I am hither, thither, tossed, 

A derelict across wrmkled seas — 

A prey am I to these my jfleeting days 

Which pass me singing merry, mocking lays. 



[lOO] 



AN AUTUMN GARDEN 

TO AUGUSTA 

All my dead childhood haunts this autumn day — 

These asters and these wine-dark autumn leaves 

All plead the ruthless passage of the years ; 

Yet in this garden, 

In this hallowed place 

Haunted with Summer's fleeting loveliness 

And touched by Autumn's lonely hands, 

I have a sense 

Of utter timelessness ! 

And memories 

Of perished days 

Laugh in the asters' blue, 

And take me back to other years when we 

Sang here our childhood's happy melody! 



[lOl] 



TO AUGUSTA 

Oh sister with the laughing eyes 

And wealth of shadow-passioned hair, 

Companion of my childhood days, 

Lilting along the golden ways 

Of summer — here and everywhere, 

I hear your laughter, and your eyes 

Gleam like dark flowers, deep and wise. 

Dark flowers glimmering with dew ! 

Dear little sister, you and I 

Have danced together down Life's days? 

The Gates of Childhood, far and blue. 

Have closed behind us — we must go 

By darker ways we do not know 

Into some dim futurity; 

And yet, however dark the ways. 

However far and strange they seem. 

We've danced together down the days 

Of our past childhood, days of dream ! 

W^e've danced together, you and I, 

Along the paths of memory; 

And we will dance again, you know, 

Because we love each other so ! 



[102] 



TO MY MOTHER 

I bring you neither rose nor flaming poppy ; 
I bring you only dreams and my own heart, 
The heart you gave me, deep beyond your knowl- 
edge 
With songs and secrets and with hidden won- 
der — 
The heart you gave me quickened with your 

love! 
Whether my way of life be dark and lonely 
Or thronged with happiness, you gave me this 
Wild Beauty that I call my heart, and only. 
Only the heart can know and understand 
My love for you — and so to-day I bring you 
Nor gift of gold, nor rose, nor flaming poppy; 
Only I bring to you my winged heart ! 



[103] 



MY WISH 

Only that Life may be to all the fire 
Of deathless beauty in the human heart; 
This is my only wish, and this desire 
That all may find within themselves a part 
At least of Life's great symphony — that all 
May hear the stars' faint laughter and the call 
Of Beauty, and may read eternity 
Spelled in the falling of an autumn leaf. 
And in the happiness, the love, the grief 
That crowd our lives ; that all may gain release 
Through Love, through Beauty, Gentleness and 
Peace ! 



[104] 



MY IDEAL 

To lend my voice to all the moods of Spring 
And note by note echo her inner thought, 
As blossom after blossom lifts its face 
To the Sun's golden kiss — To make my Song 
Deep as the passion of the winged Dawn 
When all the stariy multitudes of Night, 
Grown pale and still before the feet of Day, 
Are hushed — To lift my poetry on wings 
Into the blue realms of the infinite — 
This is my vision, this my far ideal: 
To raise my heart on pulsing wings of song — 
In ecstasy to fall at Beauty's feet ! 



[105] 



MY FLAME 

Oh, flame of Beauty, 

Star that never fades. 

Low on the hilltops 

Where with folded wings 

Resting a moment 

Thou art like God's hand 

In benediction 

Raised above the world ! 

Oh, flame of Beauty, 

Thou eternal dream 

Of deathless poetry, 

I am thy moth 

And hover breathless near thy flame. 

Yearning to fold thee — 

Blinded by thy light, 

I give my wings 

In utter sacrifice 

To perish in thy flame! 



[io6] 



THE SOUUS QUEST 

Last night a broken bit of moon 
Climbed up among the stars to kiss 
Their lonely faces; even so 
My spirit seeks some unknown bliss 
Beyond the furthest star where low 
The angels sing, where, ghostly white. 
Wings tremble in eternal Light. 



[107] 



IDEALISTS 

Pulse after pulse our life throbs to its end, 

Pulse after burning pulse; 

Even as the wind stirs up the wandering waves 

And drives them anywhither, near or far, 

Even so God's spirit, that great principle 

Of vital Beauty, stirs the souls of men 

And drives them anywhither. 

In our hearts the dust of other lives. 

Poems of our Past, burn low — our human souls 

Are the dim fires of an elusive gold. 

The Present's flames among the white-hot coals. 

Pale embers of the Past. 

Pulse after pulse our life consumes, we go 

Into the Future striving to be free ! 

Driven by Beauty, waves that break their hearts 

Against steep, inaccessible ideals. 

Dim crags of a To-morrow, — and we die 

Only to surge again along the cliffs. 

Driven by Beauty — laughing waves that break 

Their wild hearts gladly for a great ideal ! 



[io8] 



SOME DAY 

Some day when autumn sweeps across the sky 

And all the stars fall in the dusky meads 

Of windy heaven, then you, dear friend, and I 

Shall fade, and all the hopes, the plans, the deeds 

We dreamed to do, 

These shall be withered too ; 

Then swirling through the heavens wild and free 

The falling stars shall cover you and me. 

Some day when autumn sweeps across the sky, 
When Life has spelled for us the last, rich rhyme, 
The world itself shall melt into a sigh, 
A sigh upon the lonely lips of Time. 



[109] 



TO ONE WHO LOST 

He died in the last hour of strife — he went 
By the dark ways of sorrow, blood, and pain, 
With love and laughter on his lips — he spent 
His golden hours of youth, no thought of gain 
Touching his heart — only he gave his life 
In passioned sacrifice that you and I 
Might dwell in peace, untrammeled by the strife 
That fetters the white feet of Liberty. 

Yet in the gloom that shadows your dear heart 
Glimmers the silver twilight of his love; 
And somewhere out beyond our world, above 
The battlements that rim the windy sky. 
You shall be one with him — your souls a part 
Of the vast passion of eternity. 



[no] 



NOVEMBER ii, 1918 

The cold grey lips of the ageless sea 
Whispered along their mortal shores, 
"Peace !" — All the frosty stars grew still 
And the white hush that heralds dawn 
Trembled along the battle line ! 
"Peace !" — ^With a cry the awakening world 
Caught up the tidings — wave on wave 
Of exultation shook the starry towers 
That crown the gleaming citadel of God! 
"Peace'M — and the proud-lipped wind on laugh- 
ing feet 
Carried the tidings out across the world — 
"Peace!" — and the last pale soldier cried and 

fell, 
Bleeding, across a trench in No Man's Land! 



[Ill] 



PALINGENESIS 

When Death himself has fallen dead 
Among the ashes of the world, 
And Time has bowed his sleepless head 
In slumber — when the stars are hurled 
By ghostly hands into the night — 
Then through the dizzy arch of sky 
Shall ring again this challenge cry: 
"Let there be light!" 



[112] 



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